An immigration overhaul in the House isn’t dead, but it won’t happen this year, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee said Friday.

Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., said the House would likely pass legislation to fix the nation’s broken immigration system by the end of next year. He made the comments at a Friday breakfast briefing with reporters that was sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor.

Although Walden tried to imply fear of primaries was not a factor in timing in effect he conceded next year’s election is freezing prospects for now as GOP Congresscritters avoid provoking them:

“People know their districts pretty well and what they can and cannot support going into it...” Walden said. “And you’re going to have primaries all the way to August.”